Book construction



June 21, 1960 A. E. GROODY BOOK CONSTRUCTION Filed Oct. 25, 1957 EE -ET A INVEi TOR.

ALBERT E. s/zoom FiG A T TORIVE rs BOOK CONSTRUCTION Albert E. Groody, Garden City, NY. (14 E. 34th St., New York 16, NY.)

Filed Oct. 25, 1957, Ser. No. 692,407

10 Claims. (Cl. 283-42) This invention relates to books and, more particularly, to a-book having self indexing means associated therewith.

It is an object of the present invention to provide novel book construction in which predetermined leaves of the book are provided with identifying indicia which may be automatically exposed upon an outwardly projecting tab, by folding such leaves along predetermined fold lines, in order to indicate the location of such leaves in the book and to facilitate the opening of the book to such location in a simple and effortless manner.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a. book of the above type in which the tabsmay be projected outwardly from the top orbottom ends of the book in a staggered or side by side relationship, depend ing upon the direction of the fold line and the angle of inclination thereof relative to the fold lines of the other predetermined leaves.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a book of the above type in which such tabs are automatically formed from the designated leaves and without the addition of other indexing means which would increase the thickness of such book or materially add to the cost thereof.

Still a further object of the present invention is to provide a book of the above type having such self contained indexing means which are normally in an inoperative position, only requiring the folding of such predetermined pages on predetermined fold lines in order to automatically produce separate tabs each containing separate identifying indicia for determining the location whereby such books can be manufactured on conventional equipment, require no special handling, and can be selectively used by the reader.

All of the foregoing and still further objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from a study of the following specification, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a book made in accordance with the present invention with the tabs in an operative position;

Figure 2 is an end elevational view of the book shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a perspective view, with parts broken away, of the book shown in Figure 1 in an open position;

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of certain parts of the book shown in Figure 3;

Figure -5 is an exploded view illustrating the manner in which the tabs are formed;

Figure 6 is a top plan view of the book shown in Figure 3 of the drawing; and

Figure 7 is a view similar to Figure 6, showing the parts in an adjusted position.

Referring now more in detail to the drawing, a book 10 made in accordance with the present invention is shown to include an edge binding 12 and a front cover 13. The book may be of any desired construction, having a hard or soft cover, an end binding or a side atentO 2,941,819 Patented June 21, 1960 binding of the type shown, and a permanent binding or a temporary. ring type or spiraltype of binding. However, this invention 'is particularly adapted for use in connection with so called "paper back books suchas magazines and pamphlets .in which a plurality of leaves are secured together along one side edge. Each such leaf is bounded by a pair of side edges and a pair of end edges that define a front page and a back page.

Any one or more of the leaves of such book may be constructed inaccordanc'e with the present invention in order o provide a self contained index tab as will be hereinafter described. For .purposesof, illustration, 2. book having three such predetermined leaves, 15, 16, 17 that are separated by other conventional leaves through,-' out the book is shown in the drawing. Each such leaf 15, 16, 17 define a front pa e and a back page 15a, b; 16a, 12; 17a, "b, that may have any desired printing matter thereon.

The back page 15b, 16b, 17b of each such leaf is .provided with identifying indicia 19, 20, 21, respectively, adjacent to the upper outside corner defined by the out- Side edge 15c, 16c, 17c and the. respective top edge.

This indicia may be in the form of a letter, number, or

othernotation which will identify the particular section of the book which is to be located. These leaves are also provided with fold lines 23, 24,25 which are prefernbly ion the same page ofeach leaf as the indicia so as to direct the folding of the page in apredetermined manner. In the arrangement illustrated each such oblique fold line is inc-lined inwardly in a direction toward the inside edge of the. leaf from the end edge ad,- jacent to the indicia to the opposite end edge of the leaf. Thus, by folding the leaf about such fold line, either direction, atab 30,31, 32 will be automatically formed that will projectoutwardly from the upper end of "the book.

These tabs can be automatically staggered simply by decreasing the slope of each fold line 23, 24, 25 relative to the longitudinal center line 27 of the book progressively from the predetermined pages at the front of the book toward the rear of the book, which will thus automatically progressively reduce the size of each such tab. In order to prevent any bunching up of folded edges, the end of the fold line adjacent to the bottom end of each leaf is confined to the side of the center line 27 adjacent to 'the respective outside edges 15c, 16c, of the leaves, such that the inwardly folded corners of such pages are maintained in spaced relationship with the binding of the book.

In Figures 1 to 6, the invention is illustrated wherein the pages are folded rearwardly in order to dispose the tabs at the top end of the book. However, in Figure 7, the book 35 is shown to have the pages folded forwardly in order to obtain similar results. It will also be recognized that by placing the indicia on the outer lower corner of the back page of each leaf and by reversing the direction of the inclination of the fold line, the tabs can be projected outwardly from the bottom of the book rather than from the top thereof as illustrated. In each of the aforementioned arrangements, it is only necessary to incline the oblique fold line on the page containing the indicia inwardly from the one end edge adja cent to the indicia to the opposite end edge thereof in order to have the tab project outwardly from the said one end edge of the leaf in the manner described. It will be further understood that the aforedescribed indexing means may be utilized in conjunction with advertisements in trade-journals, magazines and periodicals. Thus, in such cases an advertiser may purchase space on a page of a leaf and also space on the reverse page of said leaf. On said reverse page the space thereon defining the tab,

in response to folding, may utilized by the advertiser for any suitable message or indexing signal.

While this invention has been described with particular reference to the construction shown in the drawing, it is to be understood that such is not to be construed as' imparting limitations upon the invention, which is 'best defined by .the claims appended hereto. 1

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by-Letters Patent:

1. A book comprising, in combination, a plurality of leaves each having a pair of side edges and a pair of end edges, all of said leaves being secured together along one inside edge, each'leaf defining a front page and a back page, identifying indicia' carried by one of said pages of one of said leaves at one corner'defined by the intersection of one end edge and the outside edge, and an oblique fold line on one of said pages of said leaf inclined inwardly in a direction toward said inside edge from said one end edge to the opposite end edge, said corner defining an outwardly projecting tab at said one end of said leaf in response to the folding of said leaf along said fold line.

2. A book as set forth in claim 1, wherein said fold line at said one end edge is adjacent to said outside edge, and said fold line at said opposite end edge is adjacent to the center line of said leaf parallel'to said side edges.

3. A book as set forth in claim 2, wherein said indicia is on the back page of said leaf and said fold line extends obliquely inwardly from said top end edge to said bottom end edge of said leaf. I

' 4. A book as set forth in claim 3, wherein said fold line is on said one page. V

pages of at least a predetermined one of said leaves fold line on one page of each of said predetermined leaves inclined inwardly in a direction toward said inside edge from said one end edge to the opposite end edge, each said one corner defining an outwardly projecting tab at said one end edge at said predetermined leaves in response to the folding of said leaf upon said fold line.

6. A book as set forth in claim 5,. wherein each said fold line at said one end edge is adjacent to said outside edge of said page, and-said fold line at said opposite end edge is on the exterior side of the center line of said leaf that extends parallel to said inside and said outside edges.

7. A book as set forth in claim 6, wherein each said fold line at said one end is spaced inwardly from said outside edge of said leaf a different distance than the fold line of another one of said predetermined leaves,

'5. A book'comprising, in combination, a plurality of and each said fold line terminates at the opposite end edge at substantially the same location relative to said center line, whereby said tab is staggered relative to all other tabs along said-one end edge of said leaves.

8. A book as set forth in claim 7, wherein said identifying indicia and each said fold line is imprinted upon the same page of said predetermined leaves.

9. A book as set forth in claim 8, wherein said indieia and said fold line are imprinted upon the back page of each of said predetermined leaves.

10. A book as set forth in claim 9, wherein each said fold line is inclined inwardly toward said inside edge from said top edge to said bottom edge of each of said predetermined leaves.

References Cited in the file of this patent FOREIGN PATENTS France July 7, 1908 France Aug. 11, 1925 

